Hey Team,
You may have noticed that I didn’t send anything out last week, as, well, I was busy with brushing up on tasting and theory prep for the exam that’s coming up. All pretty Exciting.
This week I’m half-arsing it because I feel a little bit guilty for not sending a newsletter, coupled with the fact that essentially there isn’t one this week either, because, well, I’m still studying.
Then, next Monday is the actual Exam, and assuming there’s no total embargo on the questions and details*, I’ll give you a thorough run through of the things I got right & wrong, but probably on Tuesday.
I promise to hold up my side of the bargain again over the summer.
I’ve also been writing practice essays. So, I might post up some of those once I’m done**. I’m trying my best to write practice essays in 1hr, from memory with no notes.
As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve spent quite a bit of time on essay structure, so planning essays and getting them typed up in the time isn’t (FOR ME), a huge problem, so long as I know what I want, or need to say. Often that’s the trickiest bit.
Plenty of people know much better than me about what to say, but struggle to form it into an order, or an essay. People have their strong points.
The Obstacle Is The Path.
This phrase stuck with me, but I’m not a totally convinced as to the meaning of it. My current interpretation is that the Stage 1 Assessment is just a step on the journey, but one that’s been a bump in the distance for a while, and now that it’s getting closer, there’s plenty of us that are realising it requires thought.
You have to go over the bump to carry on, but if you can take a run up, and don’t quite clear it first time, so be it. You can have another go later.
Honestly, I’m feeling pretty zen about the whole process right now, and just want it over with so I can enjoy the heatwave, eat more Ice Cream and have some wine without over-thinking it for the next couple of months.
dk
* They do usually put them up publicly pretty quickly after the exam, because the students are absolutely gagging to find out how well they did. Although, there is the exam in Australia, which we’ll have to wait for. Time zones are funny things.
** But, maybe give me a chance to re-edit them?
Further Reading
Here is an Instagram Live chat with Robert, Annie and Me. You’ll meet them if you watch it. It was on the Elevage Wine Coaching account, run by Amber LeBeau & Noelle Harman, and I’m on about 40 minutes in.
In this Live, we chatted about everything from financing the MW program, to balancing studies with life, to thoughts about the upcoming exam.
While we’re all on the same journey, we are each taking different routes to get to our destination.
IG Live - Elevage Wine Coaching
I had to google this to give me a fuller explanation, but here you go. Thanks Will.
Ancient Stoics firmly believed that rather than preventing us from doing something, an obstacle in fact presents an opportunity to overcome something.
One of the most prominent members of this school of philosophy was Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor who once wrote “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way”.